Unai Emery was asked about Austin MacPhee's impact at Aston Villa ahead of the Premier League clash against Sunderland
Aston Villa's set-piece coach Austin MacPhee
Aston Villa's set-piece coach Austin MacPhee(Image: PA)
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Unai Emery has praised Austin MacPhee’s creativity in set-piece planning, with only Arsenal scoring more from such situations over the last three years across Europe’s top five leagues.
MacPhee, who joined Villa in August 2021, has worked under three different head coaches - Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard, and now Emery - and his expertise has yielded significant benefits.
In the 2023/24 season, Villa scored more goals (25) from set-piece situations than any other club in Europe’s top five leagues, and they have managed to sustain that success.
Last season, Villa scored another 20 goals from set pieces, a total bettered by only four clubs: Bayer Leverkusen (21), Arsenal (23), Inter (24), and Barcelona (25).
This season, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have scored 25 times from set pieces, with Villa second on the list with 20 goals.
Indeed, Arsenal and Villa are the only two teams in Europe’s top five leagues to have scored at least 20 goals from set plays in each of the last three seasons.
“Set-pieces are very important and how the referees manage physical duels,” Emery said ahead of facing Sunderland this weekend. “Even with the goalkeepers, touch them or not, a foul or not, they are blocking goalkeepers, not just one player but two or three - it is sometimes crazy. It is very difficult for the goalkeepers.
“Through it, they are performing [well], a lot of teams. It is one way in set-pieces, and [also] to be creative. And Austin is very creative.
“We are speaking a lot about set-pieces and we are trying to get advantages through it and compete through it.
“Sunderland is especially one team very good through set-pieces and they threaten the opponent through it. We must defend fantastically on Sunday and we must threaten them.
“How we control the game in 90 minutes, maybe we can stop conceding throw-ins or corners from them. Then, we can exploit it ourselves.”
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